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As I watch the left pile on the Catholic Church, I am fascinated by the priorities of the critics: they much prefer to attack the institution itself, even as they blatantly ignore the essence of the crimes committed. In virtually every case of sexual molestation that has been reported, a young boy was violated by an older man. In other words, it was homosexual adults talking advantage of their stature as religious figures to abuse young boys.

Perhaps pointing this out to liberals, who have long championed every aspect of the militant homosexual agenda, is indelicate. These are, after all, the very same "enlightened" folks who have excoriated the Boy Scouts of America for that organization's refusal to allow gays to become troop leaders. In light of what occurred in the Church over the last several decades, one wonders if putting young boys in potentially compromising situations remains acceptable  so long as the organization is secular in nature.

Judging by what I've seen in the media, one could be forgiven for thinking that the acts of molestation themselves are far less important than the Church's refusal to deal with the perpetrators of those acts. That's not to say that the Church's behavior is in any way defensible. It's not. But the media's virtually unanimous indifference to such an integral component of the scandal is quite revealing.

As most Americans know, Christianity in general has been the American left's whipping boy for decades. Much like the Godfather of Godlessness, Karl Marx, progressives assume that anyone who believes in something greater than themselves is to be pitied for their lack of intellectual prowess. Religion, aka "the opiate of the masses," is self-medication for the brainless set. The irony that liberals also worship something bigger than themselves  government, gaia, or the "science" of global warming to name a few  is apparently lost on our intellectual betters.

And let's be perfectly clear here. Unlike my progressive brethren who prefer to tarnish an entire religion for the sins of a small number of its adherents, I will not accuse all homosexuals of being child molesters. Yet neither will I ignore the reality that there is no remotely comparable scandal of heterosexual pedophiles in the Catholic Church  or anywhere else for that matter.

We can only wonder why. According to the psychiatric community, homosexual behavior is perfectly normal, and "statistical anomalies" such as this one, are apparently irrelevant. Yet Americans themselves are less confident of such assessments. While the majority tolerates gays and their behavior, they draw a line in the sand when it comes to approval of such, as their overwhelming resistance to gay marriage indicates. What do they know that the shrinks don't?

Here's what they know: for a variety of reasons, some fair and some not, homosexuality per se still makes a lot of Americans uncomfortable. What's unfair? Being uncomfortable with someone for no other reason than his gayness. What's fair? Being uncomfortable with an agenda determined to re-write the definition of marriage, one which has been commonly understood by every country and culture in the world for thousands of years.

And while the left would like Americans to focus on Christianity itself as the bad guy in the Catholic Church's scandal, the bet here is that the abhorrent behavior of the individual priests, coupled with the despicable cover-up by the Church's hierarchy is what concerns most people. And like it or not, predatory homosexuality is a big part of the picture.

Yet as sure as there are stars in the sky, I will be excoriated for pointing out that reality.

Can the Catholic Church rehabilitate itself? Of course. But it will be interesting to see if its detractors, invariably willing to forgive similar behavior on other occasions  a certain president, a certain intern, and a certain attempted cover-up come to mind  are equally sanguine when it comes to an institution they have demonstrably despised for quite some time.

I suspect not. Those who have grown used to bashing all of Christianity, even as they hector the rest of us not to make generalizations about Islam and its relationship to worldwide terror, are immune to hypocrisy. It is the hypocrisy of those who relish using the term "pedophile priest," even as they go along with the term "Islamic jihadist" being officially scrubbed from our federal lexicon. It is the hypocrisy of those who call for the resignation of the Pope even as they demanded forgiveness for movie director Roman Polanski. Perhaps measured by some inscrutable progressive behavioral scale, secular, heterosexual predators are more "reasonable" than religious, homosexual predators  unless you're a victim of either.

There are no good guys in this sordid tale. There are only those who perpetrated despicable acts, those who covered for them, and those who see both as a golden opportunity to bash Christianity into oblivion.

The bashers might want to temper their bashing: I'm not the only one who can see the gay connection in this scandal, and those intent on perpetrating all-purpose, generalized demonization might not realize exactly how inadvertently wide they're casting their net. Adding the word "gay" to the phrase "pedophile priests" changes the focus quite a bit: it adds a bit more accuracy to the story.

Whether anyone likes it or not.

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